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Saturday, February 4, 2012

The piano that needs a good home

We have a Hemme & Long upright. Inside, the only number I can find is 87. It is never used, and is really too big for my small house, so we are hoping to find somebody who would be interested in taking it away and taking good care of it.

The pictures attached should give you an idea of its outward condition – not bad, needs attention from a good French polisher – there are some small pieces of trim that have come off, but I’ve still got them. The keys and pedals are all in working order and the only fault I can find with it is that the music stand tends to catch in the lid when it is down. It has not been used for several years and will certainly need to be tuned.

Hemme & Long is a San Francisco based piano manufacturer that stopped trading sometime in the 1890’s so this piano is at least 100 years old. If it could speak it could tell stories to us about how it got from San Francisco to Dublin, how many owners it has had, the songs sung around it, the musical styles interpreted on it, the various skills of its owners. I can’t help thinking of the person who first bought it, their excitement when they opened the lid and played it for the first time.. and what they might make of it turning up in a digital photograph, posted on the internet.

Do you know anybody who would be interested in taking it? We would be happy with a donation to this charity : http://www.mycharity.ie/event/jennyclimbskili/ - the lady intending to climb Kilimanjaro is the owner of the piano. We thought it might be too much to ask her to drag the piano behind her.

I’ve already posted about this on Adverts.ie but the grinches in charge removed the post.

Here are some things you will need to consider:

The location is Dublin North Side. This is a full-size upright piano, so it’s about 4.5 feet high, 2.5 feet deep and 5.5. feet wide. Moving it will require at least 3 strong men, a van and some kind of board or ramp to get it down the front step and up into the van.

1 comment:

I'm disappointed to say the least. In spite of over 200 emails and PMs received through Adverts.ie and Gumtree.ie, the piano is still here.I've spent the last four weekends moving furniture around to accommodate the people who had "sincerely" promised to arrive and collect it, but so far nobody has bothered to turn up.My back is hurting and my furniture is getting dizzy!